* A pause in the yen's weakening after the Italian pollhelped knock Japanese equities lower, with the Tokyo's Nikkei down 0.9 percent, while U.S. Federal Reserve ChairmanBen Bernanke's comments on bond-buying also eased concerns thatthe Fed might make an early withdrawal of support for the debtmarket, which prevented the Treasury yields from rising despitebetter economic data.

* "The market had expected him to comment on an exitstrategy ... (but) Bernanke tried to correct such expectations,"said Maki Shimizu, senior strategist at Citigroup Global MarketsJapan.

* Shimizu said the stall in yen's weakening against thedollar and the euro would likely keep the equity market incheck, supporting the JGB yields. "(Any rise in yield) is amajor concern for domestic investors ahead of Marchbookclosing," she said.

* The 10-year yield slipped 1 basis point to0.670 percent, hitting a fresh near 10-year low and appearingset to fall for a fifth straight session, while 10-year JGBfutures rose 12 ticks to 144.96 to a two-month high.

* The five-year yield was unchanged at arecord low of 0.115 percent. The short-end of the yield curvehas been supported by expectations of bolder monetary easing bythe Bank of Japan once Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominates a new governor.